Touch typing is an important skill, but for many people the term “touch typing” causes some confusion. It’s true that in order to type – whether on a typewriter or on a computer keyboard – your fingertips must “touch” certain keys. Doing so is how you produce the desired words, or proper combination of words, numbers, and/or symbols. A lot of people believe that this simple act of “touching” specific keys is what touch typing is all about.

It’s true that touch typing does involve touching. But to a greater degree, touch typing involves memory. You see, touch typing is the ability to type the correct letters in the correct order using the correct symbols, numbers and/or punctuation – without the need to actually look at the keyboard in order to locate the desired keys.

When you know how to touch type, you don’t need to look back and forth between the keyboard and the screen. Your fingers will know where to go to find the correct letters, numbers and symbols because you’ve trained them to recall the location of those keys on the keyboard from memory.

Please note that if you resemble the character Schroeder from the comic strip Peanuts while typing, you are not touch typing. Schroeder is the young boy who’s usually shown sitting hunched over his piano and using only his two index fingers to strike the different musical notes that correspond to whatever song he’s playing, which is typically something by Beethoven.

We know people who type like this, and you probably do, too. Some of these people can two-finger type quickly and with a great degree of accuracy. Regardless of their speed or their accuracy though, these individuals still rely heavily on their sight to locate the desired keys. Although glancing at the keyboard takes little more than a split second, using anything other than the touch typing method while typing can have a tremendous impact on your typing speed. That’s because all those seemingly unimportant split second glances can add up to several minutes or more by the time you finish typing. Even if you have to type for just a little bit every day, those wasted minutes can result in a significant loss of time out of your work week. That’s why learning to touch type using the Typesy system will save you time and effort for years to come.